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WGI Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Minnesota Brass

Feb 01 2016
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Sounds of Minnesota Winter Edition in S. St. Paul Saturday

By | MBI Winterguard | No Comments

The curtain is ready to rise on the 2016 MBI Winter Guard performance season as the ensemble hosts Sounds of Minnesota Winter Edition this Saturday, Feb. 6, at South St. Paul High School.

The event is expected to feature 14 units from around the region competing in six classes. Showtime is 6:30 p.m. Doors open at 6.

MBI Winter Guard—whose 2016 show is titled “Auto-Correcting Society”—placed first last weekend in the Independent A Class at the North Star Circuit’s annual season-opening Scholarship Show in Mendota Heights. “MBIWG had a strong start to the season at the Scholarship Show,” said director Wil Furnstahl. “The performance was well received by both audience and judges.”

The group has been an Independent A Class unit since 2011, when they were moved up to Open Class after their performance at the Indianapolis Power Regional resulted in an 11th place finish at the WGI World Championships event. MBI Winter Guard is a consecutive two time WGI Independent Open Class Finalist and the 2012 Kansas City Regional Independent Open class champion.

The 16-member MBI Winter Guard is co-directed by Furnstahl and Emily Merriman for their sixth consecutive season and a staff that includes returning members Jessi Foell, Jon Su and Mary Stennes. New staff members include Jared Peterson, Aaron Shaleen, Rachel Graack, Becci O’Kane and Dani Lovitz.

Sounds of Minnesota Winter Edition
When: 6:30 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 6
Where: South St. Paul High School, 700 2nd St. N., South St Paul, MN 55075
Admission: $8-$6. All seats are general admission and available at the door.

Jan 28 2016
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MBI Winter Guard ‘virtually’ ready for 2016 season

By | MBI Winterguard | No Comments

It’s a digital world today, and we’re all just connected bits and bytes.

That somewhat dystopian view is the theme of MBI Winter Guard’s 2016 show, “Auto-Correcting Society,” that will see its debut performance Jan. 31 at the Scholarship Show at Henry Sibley High School in Mendota Heights, Minn.

“Our soundtrack this year surrounds a voice-over narrative that aims to define how our devices, apps and technology have changed human interaction and society as a whole,” explains Wil Furnstahl, MBI Winter Guard director. He adds the show was inspired by a spoken-word art performance. “We loved the message and felt it was so relevant to both our members and audiences alike.”

Furnstahl describes the visual aspect of the show as “a colorful world comprising squares and rectangles that are reminiscent of the device screens with which we surround ourselves every day. The shapes also appear within the costuming, along with digitized pixilation patterns in our flags. The show continuously presents a motif of individuals stopping to stare at their hand (which is in the shape of one holding a phone) as the chaotic world continues around them.”

The 16-member unit is co-directed by Furnstahl and Emily Merriman for their sixth consecutive season and a staff that includes returning members Jessi Foell, Jon Su and Mary Stennes. New staff members include Jared Peterson, Aaron Shaleen, Rachel Graack, Becci O’Kane and Dani Lovitz; all in all, it the largest staff ever to work with the guard, Furnstahl said.

“We are happy to have Mary, Rachel and Dani as program alums,” he added, “and feel it’s important to keep alumni actively engaged and involved.”

Furnstahl said the guard will appear in six local shows including its home show, “Sounds of Minnesota: Winter Edition,” on Feb 6 at South St. Paul High School. The guard will once again compete nationally as they travel to the WGI St. Louis Regional contest in March and the WGI Color Guard World Championships in Dayton, Ohio, in April.

For more information about the MBI Winter Guard’s 2016 show and performance schedule, go to https://mnbrass.org/winterguard.